Cincinnati Public Schools (CPS) have been left out in the rain for way too long. Not all Cincinnati schools -- just the urban ones.
The lunches differ the most.
Wyoming High School is served Caesar rolls, popcorn chicken and ice cream. Sometimes they have Montgomery Inn Day, when they're lavished with hot, juicy, delicious chicken drenched in a special sauce.
On the other side of town, Academy of World Languages, Walnut Hills High and Jacobs High schools are being fed greasy pizza, slimy cheese sticks and a plain chicken patty between dry buns.
There are snack machines at all CPS schools that are covered with sticky prints from fingers jabbing at the buttons to get what they want. These snacks are the only edible item. Nobody wants to swallow watery cheese off the pizza or a dry chicken patty.
And where are we supposed to eat? Not in the lunchroom. It reeks of ammonia and grease. The cafeteria has gummy floors and stained tables infested by bubble gum bandits who love to stick gum on walls, floors and seats.
How about the utensils? Metallic, spotty forks and spoons. Most of the time kids bring their own utensils because they trust their own.
Isn't school supposed to be like a second home? Isn't there supposed to be trust? Well, neither I nor any of my friends trust the food or the cafeteria.
Over at Wyoming, their lunchroom is as sterile as a restaurant. Floors are mopped and tables buffed daily. They don't have to go outside to avoid the nauseating stench of the ammonia and grease. They can go outside willingly. They don't have to bring their own utensils because they have plastic sterile ones.
Their lunchroom is quiet. Birds sing happily outside the window. The kids speak in low tones, as if afraid to be heard by four lunch monitors, there to intimidate.
They can trust their school and cafeteria. They don't have to avoid gum on their seats. They don't have to worry about their feet sticking to the floor, and we shouldn't have to either.
Even the Ohio Supreme Court said that the way money is divided between Cincinnati urban and Cincinnati suburban schools is unconstitutional. Now why don't you put that on your tray and swallow it!
ALYSIA UDDIN, 14, is a student at the Academy of World Languages.
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